


Broken Promises

by ShadowThief78



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angst, Don't Post To Another Site, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Heavy Angst, Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21538942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowThief78/pseuds/ShadowThief78
Summary: The long-promised Suga/Reader piece is finished.In case you don’t know, Orpheus was a legendary musician. Eurydice, his wife, died and Orpheus missed her so much he went to the Underworld to try and bring her back to life.
Relationships: Sugawara Koushi & Reader, Sugawara Koushi/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Broken Promises

**Author's Note:**

> The long-promised Suga/Reader piece is finished.
> 
> In case you don’t know, Orpheus was a legendary musician. Eurydice, his wife, died and Orpheus missed her so much he went to the Underworld to try and bring her back to life.

The moment your eyes met his, time stopped.

_Mothers, matchmakers._

You both know this is a set-up, another one for him, as he’s turned down countless lovers already.

_What makes you expect any different? Surely all the others felt the same._

He asks your name.

_It sounds like music on his lips._

Head filled with ringing, you can hardly speak.

_He’s so much more handsome than the rumors had said._

He spends the rest of the evening with you.

_You can hear the giggling and sighs of your parents planning the wedding already._

He talks to you, sings to you, spends days away from his admirers to watch you, holds you hands with his own.

_He loves you._

You take long walks together, look at the stars, trade kisses like breaths.

_You adore him._

Your parents agree to marriage, smiling while the two of you stare at each other, too lost and lovesick to care about the teasing.

_He worships you._

Although you try to arrange a quiet ceremony, somehow, the whole town turns up to watch and hear you now-husband’s music.

_He doesn’t take his eyes off you, not once through the entire day._

“Til death do us part,” He whispers, pressing his forehead against yours. “I will wait for you forever, even if it means delaying Charon’s raft.”

_He was almost prophetic._

You elope on a break, away from the crowds to enjoy the peace and quiet.

The small inn is tucked away in the warm foothills. The owner promises a room for the next few nights, and complete secrecy.

You leave to explore together while the sun is still up.

“Come back safe!” The innkeeper calls after you.

.

Blue eyes, black hair, nervous twitching. “Marry me!” The young man in front of you shouts.

You are already married - honeymooning, in fact, on the coast of Greece.

You scream and run away.

_Your beloved waits patiently for you - you, who wanted a walk. You, who promised to be back safely._

You don’t notice the snake until it’s too late.

_You, who broke your promise._

“Suga!”

_You can’t see him - where is he? How far did you run?_

Is that him?

_No, only the wind in the trees._

Is that him?

_No, only the trickling of a brook._

Then that must be him.

_Yes, but you don’t live long enough to see._

You die alone, quietly, in the middle of a sun-drenched meadow. Nobody stops for you, not even Thanos, who scoops up your soul and hurries away.

_His screams are heartbreaking. You had been at the temple just yesterday morning, and now - already gone?_

.

The bank of the Acheron river is reminiscent of a painful loss, something sharp buried under layers of time.

_What did I forget?_

The river of pain mirrors your own. You, who swore yourself to another for the rest of your life.

_Who knew it would be only a day?_

“Lord Charon,” You say.

_Am I dead? I can’t be. Where is Suga?_

An old, old man nods. He holds out a hand for your coin.

_I swore to delay Charon for him._

“I can’t,” you say. “I’m waiting.”

_But you find yourself on his raft regardless._

Lost souls at Cocytus beg to take your place.

_You would, but Suga is not there. If you step off, you will never see him again._

That’s the only piece of knowledge that keeps you still.

_You want to leap off and swim across the river, drag yourself back to life._

The river swirls around the raft. Faces of lament move within its currents, pleading for reprieve.

_You add to its waters with your tears._

_._

“Lord Hades,” Your husband kneels at the feet of a death-dark throne, hair blinding in the gloom of the dead. He pleads for your life, just one more chance.

“Very well,” the lord of the dead says. “But you must prove your love is strong enough to bring them back. Step out of my kingdom and let the doors close behind you; only then may you look back and see if you have succeeded or not.”

_Thank you, my lord, my lady._

You melt out of the shadows and follow his voice - even hoarse from mourning, it is the sweetest sound you’ve ever heard.

_When we return, I will make you a glass of wine full of the sweetest honey to soothe your throat and never leave again, I swear._

His hair is unkept, his clothes wrinkled and stained with dirt.

_Oh, my love. What have you gone through for me?_

The passage to the sun is short, the waiting agonizing. His voice falters, then stops, as he stares out the mouth of the cave.

_It’s only four steps._

Baked desert stares back, reflecting heat into the air. But the dank of the Underworld lingers still in the shadows. You can feel the cool rock, taste the dust, hear yourself breathe shallowly for the first time in what feels like eons.

The dead have no need for air.

Deliriously hot sun waits not four steps away, the feverish buzzing of cicadas an ever-present noise.

_Go, please. I am with you._

“Anything,” he says, “To show you are here. A breeze, a noise, anything.”

_I’m sorry, my love. I cannot. I am only a shade. Please, just four steps. I’ll take them with you._

Nothing.

Nothing.

He turns.

_No!_

“No,” He breathes.

_I was here. I could have come back._

You see his face, his eyes, horrified that you are here. You were here. So close, yet so far.

_It was only four steps._

Your hands touch each other for a second and you see a flare of irrational hope in his eyes that dies as soon as you pass through him.

_It’s not your fault._

He reaches for your fading form again, steps into the shadows. “Four steps. Just four more steps. Please.” He begs to empty air.

“No!”

_No._

Before you vanish, you manage a breeze. Soft, comforting.

_Fear not. I will wait for you forever, if I must._

He screams again.

If the first cry was heartbreaking, this is beyond words. He had the fates to blame the first time, now it is nothing but his own weakness that stopped you from being together.

He remains at the entrance to the Underworld, pounding on the ground til his hands are bruised and bloody and his back is drenched in sweat.

_Smite me, lord Hades, I dare you. Kill me, please._

He begs for death. Life has no meaning away from you. He picks up his lyre and calls to him the desert-dwellers, taunting the snakes and scorpions to bite him.

They refuse.

Blades glance off his skin. Animals will not harm him. Water will not enter his lungs. He curses the ruler of the dead, demands an explanation.

_They love you too much to let you die._

Him, or his music?

_Why?_

He spends his days wandering through the forest where you met your end, calling out for you in song.

_I’m sorry. I wasn’t strong enough._

The pity of the gods leads a group of maenads, in wine-crazed frenzy, descend on him and demand a happy tune.

He can’t. His happiness died with you. His happiness is you.

They threaten to rip him apart if he doesn’t obey.

_Please. I long for death._

They do.

_Thank you._

**Author's Note:**

> You all have no idea how much revision and deleting this thing went through.I made it, though!
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/shadowthief78


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